Eastwood is Romney’s opening act

Eastwood is Romney’s opening act

Associated Press

TAMPA, Fla.

Clint Eastwood whipped up the crowd at the Republican National Convention ahead of GOP presidential nominee Mitt Romney’s acceptance speech.

The iconic star of “Dirty Harry” and the Oscar- winning director of “Unforgiven” and “Million Dollar Baby,” Eastwood criticized President Barack Obama for failing to turn the economy around and for wanting to close the Guantanamo Bay prison for terror suspects.

Eastwood says Obama has failed to deliver on his promises, and it’s time for Romney and his running mate, Paul Ryan, to take over.

He entertained the audience with a mock interview with Obama, posing questions and pretending that Obama had told Eastwood to shut up.

The crowd roared at its first glimpse of Eastwood, the night’s surprise guest. “Save some for Mitt,” he told them.

In free-wheeling, joke-filled remarks, Eastwood remembered the enthusiasm around Obama’s nomination four years ago.

“Everybody’s crying. Oprah was crying. I was even crying,” he joked.

Then he quickly pivoted to the serious: “I haven’t cried that hard since I found out there’s 23 million unemployed people in this country. That is something to cry for. That is a disgrace, a national disgrace.”

“This administration hasn’t done enough to cure that,” Eastwood said, and it’s “time for somebody else to come along and solve the problem.”

Eastwood got an adoring standing ovation by telling the delegates, “When somebody does not do the job, we’ve got to let him go.”

At their insistence, he ended with his Dirty Harry catchphrase, joined by the crowd: “Go ahead, make my day.”